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Keeping It Real

Curtis Jackson, aka 50 cents, is currently gangsta raps biggest star. One reason for his phenomenal success is because he is real, and the world has fallen on love with reality acts. 50 cents has lived what others in the business only rap about.

Jackson was born to a fifteen-year-old drug-dealing mother who was murdered in his presence while he was only eight years old. By the age of 12, he was dealing drugs, and bought his first gun before he was old enough to drive.

"I was going to jail every other summer", claims Jackson, who at 19 was the kingpin of his local drug business. Predictably, he ended up in prison for three years.

It would seem reasonable that such adversity would soften the heart, but not this rapper. He continued his gangsta lifestyle, and in May 2000 while sitting in the backseat of a parked car, Jackson was shot nine times. After two weeks in the hospital and five months in rehab, he still believes it’s all about "being real."

To be quite honest, I don’t care to equate "being real" with a resume of violence, and I certainly do not consider gangbanging a form of personal integrity. Yet, 50 Cent’s lifestyle is what has helped his popularity. For example, when opposing gangstas riddled his record company with bullets, he became more popular. When his mentor (Jam Master Jay of Run-DMC) was murdered execution style, 50 cent sold more records. He wears a bulletproof vest and drives a supposedly bombproof jeep. All eyes are on 50 Cents, if for no other reason but to see what happens next.

In the meantime, the rapper’s project entitled, "Get Rich or Die Trying", sold more copies in one week than any other album in history. It spent several weeks in the number one position on the charts including a single entitled "In Da Club". The rapper’s battle wounds are on full display, and he trumpets his anger throughout this disc. He has no real message, just contradictions. He glamorizes drugs and alcohol, threatens gang violence and murder, and speaks of uncommitted sex. A brief summary of the message would simply be "sick".

Just because a rapper claims to be real and his pictures are splashed across the cover of magazines, doesn’t mean he is right. There is nothing noble about the wounds of 50 Cents, and whatever scars he has, he certainly didn’t get it on behalf of anyone other than himself. He is just another thug with a tragic past trying to cash in on his scars.

But there is One who really bore wounds and scars, who really suffered violence and death; and He did it all for the right reasons. He was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquity, the chastisement of our peace was placed on Him, and with his stripes we are healed.

Jesus Christ was not stabbed because of a drug deal gone bad, neither was His hands pierced by rival rappers. He suffered to redeem men from sin’s bondage. And that redemption is as real as it gets.